Vulcans Remain Winless in Conference With Loss to Chaminade

Chaminade coach Kahala Kabalis never got a chance to celebrate a victory last season in her first return home as the head coach of the Silverswords.

Kabalis was coaching her Silverswords to a first set victory in their match on Oct. 27, 2012 against the University of Hawai`i at Hilo when tsunami sirens sounded and a tsunami warning was issued from a 7.7 magnitude earthquake off of the coast of British Columbia.

Back in front of her family and friends Thursday, Kabalis watched an inspired and improved effort from her Silverswords in a four-set victory over the Vulcans.

Chaminade head coach Kahala Kabalis. CUH photo.

Set scores were 25-23, 23-25, 18-25, 24-26.

Chaminade (4-4 overall, 1-2 PacWest) took control of an even match late in the second set by watching its opponent rack up attack errors. An error from Stacey Witt gave the Silverswords a 19-18 lead late in the second frame. Later, back-to-back errors from Witt and Kyndra Trevino-Scott extended the lead to 24-21. Another error, this time on the serve from UH-Hilo’s Kahea Rodrigues, gift wrapped the set for Chaminade.

“We made too many hitting errors,” said UH-Hilo head coach Tino Reyes after the match. “We didn’t pass the ball well and didn’t serve well at times. But, Chaminade made us do those things.”

Hawai`i-Hilo (5-3, 0-3) struggled to find any rhythm in the third set. The Vulcans trailed 10-3 early in the set and found themselves behind as much as nine points before falling by seven. Sophomore Kim Spring, who entered the match with a team-best 61 kills, accumulated six of her match-high 19 kills in the third frame.

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Chaminade got out to a hot start in the fourth set as well. The Silverswords took a 10-4 lead before UH-Hilo valiantly fought back to even the set at 24.

The fourth frame was tied at 24 until the Silverswords wrapped up the match with a pair of kills by Spring and Kapiolani Rapoza.

Rapoza, a senior from Kailua, finished the match with 10 kills and two service aces to supplement Spring’s offensive statistics. The Silverswords picked up 54 kills and hit .254 on the night.

Freshmen Trevino-Scott and Marley Strand-Nicolaisen led the Vulcans with 15 kills each. UH-Hilo tallied 51 kills and his .149 for the match.

The Vulcans wrap up their two-match homestand with a rematch against Hawai`i Pacific University on Saturday. The Sea Warriors defeated UH-Hilo in five sets last week to open PacWest play.

HPU will enter Saturday’s match with a ton of confidence after defeating fourth-ranked Brigham Young University-Hawai`i in five sets Thursday night. The defeat was the first for BYUH on the season.